https://www.scmp.com/rss/315992/feed The 2015 BMW Hong Kong Derby is a Hong Kong Group 1 race over 2,000 metres held on March 15th 2015. It is one of the most prestigious and historic races on the Hong Kong calendar, dating back to 1873. Only four-year-old horses can take part in the 2,000m event, making it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Heart irregularities remain a mystery of modern racing and two high-profile horses – Luger and Aerovelocity – head into the Group One features at Sha Tin on Sunday coming off last-start failures due to the issue, their trainers left with little more to do than hope for the best. I have no insight into it. I’ve had discussions with people of course, but no one seems to profess to know the cause John Size For Luger, John Size’s brilliant 2015 BMW Hong Kong Derby winner, the stakes are high in the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1906636/baffled-trainers-hope-best-luger-and-aerovelocity-return-heart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1906636/baffled-trainers-hope-best-luger-and-aerovelocity-return-heart?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jan 2016 07:30:45 +0000 It didn't have the breathtaking arrogance of racing's colossus Able Friend an hour earlier but it was only after Luger landed the unlikely team of John Size and Zac Purton the HK$18 million BMW Hong Kong Derby that the scales fell from all eyes and the best horse in the race was then recognised. The only doubts with Able Friend in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup were on whether Joao Moreira would get him into the clear in the straight after gambling on an inside run, and the Magic Man conjured a... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1738573/luger-confirms-his-class-triumph-hong-kong-derby?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1738573/luger-confirms-his-class-triumph-hong-kong-derby?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Mar 2015 14:30:00 +0000 Six weeks ago, the thought that John Size and Zac Purton could team up to win the BMW Hong Kong Derby seemed fanciful at best. Last season's champion jockey Purton was on the outer with Size, not having ridden for the stable since July 2012 and his last win for the seven-time champion trainer coming in May 2011. He came up here as an unraced horse, ran in some of the early griffin races but I've taken my time with him. He definitely hasn't been rushed John Size And yet, the unthinkable became... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1738407/luger-shoots-clear-impressive-hong-kong-derby-victory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1738407/luger-shoots-clear-impressive-hong-kong-derby-victory?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Mar 2015 10:13:47 +0000 There is a special kind of magic about the BMW Hong Kong Derby. It can turn sprinters into stayers for a day, and it can bring together the most unlikely pairings for just over two minutes. A month ago, if someone had said champion jockey Zac Purton might win his first Derby anywhere on a John Size horse, the laughter would have been loud. And, while Neil Callan has been the regular rider of Beauty Only, there was a time you could have written your own ticket about him having such an important... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737985/hong-kong-derby-was-all-down-timing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737985/hong-kong-derby-was-all-down-timing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Mar 2015 16:30:00 +0000 When Helene Happy Star contests Sunday's BMW Hong Kong Derby, trainer John Moore will actually be able to relax and enjoy the event for a change. Normally mob-handed in Group Ones, Hong Kong's leading money trainer has just one runner to saddle up in the Derby for the first time since 2008. Helene Happy Star - a Woo family affair that could see both parents and children Derby winners for a second time but this time together - was one of Moore's usual handful of hopefuls. Ultimately, Helene Happy... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737043/trainer-john-moore-happy-lone-runner-derby?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737043/trainer-john-moore-happy-lone-runner-derby?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:22:17 +0000 After enduring the embarrassment of buying a racehorse that never made it to the races, Redkirk Warrior's owner Jenny Tam Yuk-ching asked herself, "What type of owner do I want to be?" and set about doing everything possible to make her second foray into ownership a success. On Sunday, Tam's risky decision to spend big on English import Redkirk Warrior, a horse others had knocked back, and entrust the services of another relatively unproven commodity - second-year trainer Chris So Wai-yin -... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737038/jenny-tam-ready-do-battle-hong-kong-derby?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1737038/jenny-tam-ready-do-battle-hong-kong-derby?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:07:57 +0000 As Sunday's highly competitive BMW Hong Kong Derby is dissected and scrutinised from all angles, it seems Tony Cruz-trained Beauty Only is the runner being squeezed out of some calculations. Jockey Neil Callan has bristled at suggestions his ride, a dominant winner of the Hong Kong Classic Mile two starts back, was the forgotten horse. "They won't be forgetting him on Sunday, I can assure you of that," said the Irish rider, buoyed by a strong turf gallop on Monday, where the four-year-old ran... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1735225/forget-beauty-only-your-peril-derby-warns-jockey-neil-callan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1735225/forget-beauty-only-your-peril-derby-warns-jockey-neil-callan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:30:30 +0000 Confident trainer David Ferraris says a rare "perfect big-race preparation" for BMW Hong Kong Derby dark horse Dynamism could help deliver co-owner and former Jockey Club chairman Wong Chung-hin a long-awaited first win in the classic at Sha Tin on Sunday. Ferraris tasted Derby success 10 years ago with Vengeance Of Rain, but would love nothing more than to put the name of a long-time client Ferraris respectfully refers to as "CH" in the record books. [Dynamism] has been my Derby horse from the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1734566/outsider-dynamism-has-had-perfect-big-race-preparation-derby?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1734566/outsider-dynamism-has-had-perfect-big-race-preparation-derby?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2015 14:15:30 +0000 Seven visiting jockeys will make a hit-and-run mission to Sha Tin on Sunday week to ride on BMW Hong Kong Derby day, but recent departure Maxime Guyon will not be among them after being denied permission by his new employers, the Wertheimer brothers. Tye Angland (Romantic Touch), Hugh Bowman (Helene Happy Star), Bernard Fayd'herbe (Golden Sleep), Ryan Moore (Got Fly) and Christophe Soumillon (Obliterator) have all picked up rides in the HK$18 million classic. Tommy Berry (Dan Excel) and Wayne... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1730327/maxime-guyon-denied-chance-join-raiders-derby-day-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1730327/maxime-guyon-denied-chance-join-raiders-derby-day-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2015 13:58:28 +0000 Forget this weekend’s antiquated interport race – where the Macau runners are setting themselves up to be lapped again – and the eclectic mix of dirt, turf and straight racing that awaits at Sha Tin. All eyes are now on the BMW Hong Kong Derby on March 15 – the race every Hong Kong owner wants to win. They will happily outlay more than the HK$10.44 million first prize just to have a runner in the “once-in-a-lifetime” classic. It’s the race which sees every horse that has shown a glimmer of form... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1730197/hong-kong-derby-lottery-falls-flat-owner-siu-pak-kwan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1730197/hong-kong-derby-lottery-falls-flat-owner-siu-pak-kwan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2015 10:27:15 +0000 John Moore-trained Australian import Savvy Nature has missed out on a place in the 14-horse field for next weekend’s Group One BMW Hong Kong Derby after he was named first reserve today. Four horses rated 88 were vying for the final three spots in the HK$18 million classic, with Anticipation, Golden Sleep and Obliterator getting in ahead of Savvy Nature. Obliterator’s inclusion gives billionaire owner Pan Sutong two runners, along with Giant Treasure, and that pair’s trainer Richard Gibson... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1729207/john-moores-savvy-nature-fails-make-hong-kong-derby-field?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1729207/john-moores-savvy-nature-fails-make-hong-kong-derby-field?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2015 04:30:15 +0000 Champion jockey Zac Purton will have his first ride for John Size in almost three years when he takes over on Luger in the BMW Hong Kong Derby on March 15. It is a rare meeting of convenience between the two as Purton did not have a Derby ride and Size was left without a rider for the gelding after Douglas Whyte elected last week to stick with Richard Gibson-trained Giant Treasure. "I would like to have kept the same jockey as Douglas has ridden Luger since his second start as a two-year-old and... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1722635/zac-purton-bites-bullet-luger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1722635/zac-purton-bites-bullet-luger?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2015 15:15:15 +0000 Chris So Wai-yin was excited to have a big race contender on his hands, but the young trainer was also trying to defuse the hype surrounding Redkirk Warrior after the four-year-old import burst into BMW Hong Kong Derby calculations with a tough mile win at Sha Tin yesterday. Of course, the Derby is what the owners would have been thinking when they bought the horse, so he is headed that way Chris So The horse that was at the centre of a recent running and handling inquiry stormed home... https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1698918/redkirk-warrior-storms-hong-kong-derby-contention?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/1698918/redkirk-warrior-storms-hong-kong-derby-contention?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2015 15:45:15 +0000 It was only a humble Class Three on a standard day's racing but the race fought out by Selkirk Star and Eton Blitz last Sunday might have more meaning as time goes on. Selkirk Star looks a natural blackbook entry - five moderate starts in his first local preparation when not yet acclimatised and it showed, then he produced a much improved performance when he stepped out for the first time this season. Behind a solid pace, Selkirk Star was finding the line well on National Day when seventh over... https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/1633773/selkirk-star-he-heads-classics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/1633773/selkirk-star-he-heads-classics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:30:30 +0000